A one-time CFP who was criminally charged with tax fraud in January had his assets frozen yesterday after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against him, his firm, and his partner accusing them of stealing client money.

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Gregg D. Caplitz, 54, of Insight Onsite Strategic Management (IOSM), pleaded not guilty to the criminal tax fraud charges filed January 23, 2013 by the U.S. Attorney in U.S. District Court in Boston. Caplitz did not respond in time to a phone message asking him for his response to the civil charges filed yesterday by the SEC’s Boston office, which expand the previously filed criminal allegations of tax fraud against him by adding civil charges that he bilked $1.1 million from 12 clients.

“Instead of using the investors’ funds to purchase shares in a hedge fund, or using their funds for legitimate purposes to manage or develop a hedge fund,” says the SEC complaint, “Caplitz and/or IOSM transferred control over the investors’ funds to the Relief Defendants, who used the funds largely for their own personal expenses. Caplitz also obtained funds from a real estate investment trust by falsely representing that a hedge fund he operated was interested in making an investment in that trust.“

The criminal indictment filed in January against Caplitz and his partner, Rosalind Herman, accused him of failing to report $2.7 million in commissions he was allegedly paid for selling insurance policies and did not involve allegations of wrongdoing that affected clients.

The CFP Board website, which lets consumers verify that an individual is a CFP designee, lists Caplitz as "not certified," which indicates that, at one time, Caplitz had a valid CFP designation.